MTN Ghana
Telecommunications Analyst, Patrick Boateng has backed government’s decision to break telco giant, MTN Ghana’s dominance on the market stating, the move is aimed at creating an equal space for all network operators.
This follows a statement by issued by the National Communications Authority (NCA) indicating “the growing control of MTN has impacted negatively on competition and consumer choice, necessitating corrective action,” hence the decision institute measures to break the company’s dominance.
But the Telecoms analyst believes the intention by government will rather give consumers a fair chance in prospering while some industry players have opposed the decision.
Mr Patrick Boateng, speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, June 11, 2020 said, “the intention here is not to punish the Significant Market Power (SMP) but to create a market space where everyone, so the industry players who are big investors, government, consumers and other players have a fair chance in prospering.”
“The market leaders sometimes tend to behave in their own interest which may not necessarily be in the interest of consumers or anybody else,” he indicated.
He added; “In a number of ways, consumers need fair and reasonable pricing. They need the choice of freedom to switch networks. They need all kinds of innovative products that they can access and by doing so the regulator then opens up the space and basically forestalls any negative anticompetitive behaviour. To leave the SMP without acting, consumers will have the lack of choice, lack of innovative products, unfair pricing, unreasonable pricing, in the absence of competitors who can also introduce new products,”
Despite backing government's decision, Mr Boateng has also cautioned the NCA tread cautiously when implementing its measures to break MTN’s over ten-year dominance on the Ghanaian market.
“It is unwise for a regulator to act too quickly and then regret it without having considered all the factors. As a regulator, it is wise to wait and watch the market and exercise some degree of forbearance, watch the trends in the industry, the investments, the product and services and the pricing. I think a lot of careful judgment and careful deliberation was done on the part of NCA.”
“Ten years ago, the space was basically void. It was just one piece and one segment and then data now comes on and we have updated value-added services. So, the regulator had to consider a lot of the issues and I believe they also had to exercise forbearance before taking the decision,” the telecoms analyst concluded.
